AfricaPress-Tanzania: FORMER CCM Secretary General, Abdulrahman Kinana has implored the party’s cadres to wage strong campaigns as he envisaged a massive victory for President John Magufuli.
Mr Kinana expressed optimism that CCM will this year garner more presidential votes and parliamentary seats than the party secured during the previous 2015 general election.
Comrade Kinana, said his optimism was born out of a splendid performance under President Magufuli’s regime during the past five years, in which the country has enjoyed great socio-economic strides.
“We’re heading to the general election, let me appeal to my fellow members that we should volunteer and work hard together to seek votes for our candidate John Pombe Magufuli, to seek votes for our MPs and councilors,” said Mr Kinana.
The former secretary general, however, warned against complacency, saying there is always no easy election, insisting that the ruling party should go into the October election at full throttle.
He echoed President Magufuli’s call on Friday not to underestimate the coming election despite the fact that the ruling party heads into the polls as the clear favourite.
“The election is only concluded when the votes are counted and the winner declared,” Kinana, who boasts of vast experience in local elections, warned.
‘But I have no single doubt that our candidate Dr John Magufuli will garner many votes than he got in 2015 and we’ll get more MPs and councilors,” stated Mr Kinana.
He said President Magufuli’s performance spoke louder than words, and the feats recorded in all key sectors will be the CCM candidate’s major weapon against his opponents.
“You have done a great job, a truly splendid job, your achievements speak for themselves, I believe you’re more than ready to oversee even bigger achievements in the next five years,” added Kinana.
Mr Kinana, who served as CCM secretary general from 2012 to 2018, called upon CCM members to remain as united during and after the intra-party preliminaries, insisting that the unity would be a valuable tool during the elections.
Citing the example of Rorya Constituency where there has been a huge turnout of around 60 members seeking nomination for the parliamentary seat, Mr Kinana said that should not destabilize the party.
“In the end we’ll appoint only one CCM candidate even if there are 100 aspirants, let us remain united, we must bury our differences and put the party’s interests ahead of individual interests,” urged Kinana.
On Friday, the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), through its National Executive Committee (NEC), meeting pardoned its former Secretary General, Kinana, and he was among ex-leaders who attended the annual congress.
Kinana and other senior party members had been at logger-heads with the party and were found guilty of gross misconduct and were penalised by the Central Committee in February, this year.
Mr Kinana, in particular, was given a strong warning and put under 18 months’ watch, during which he was not allowed to vie for any position except retaining his right to vote.
The decision to pardon him was passed unanimously during the NEC meeting at the White House conference hall in Dodoma Friday, one of whose agenda items was endorsement of the CCM’s presidential candidate for Zanzibar in the forthcoming General Election.
